web hosting

Can You Handle E-commerce Alone?

Constant efficiency and availability are critical factors for any company whose business revolves around e-commerce.  Every element of the organization’s architecture from operating system and web applications to hardware and network connectivity must be designed with fault tolerance and redundancy in mind.  An inaccessible website or damaged OS kernel could put your operation on halt and send customers in the direction of another retailer.  With your competition located just a quick click away, it is crucial to the take the necessary steps to make sure your systems are always available.

The Challenges of Cost and Maintenance

In order to accurately gauge the costs of obtaining greater availability for your systems and infrastructure, you must first determine the degree of reliability your business requires.  For many large online businesses, storing data and applications in multiple locations is an ideal solution.  While relying on a multitude of redundant data centers can help an organization achieve that elusive 100% level of availability, investing in such facilities can be a rather costly and daunting task.  Not only must you consider the expense of building or even leasing a facility, but also hiring a dedicated IT staff and the ongoing maintenance of your systems.  Achieving the fastest response times and the best performance typically demands a world-class service and support on an around the clock basis.

Considering Third-Party Help

One challenge many organizations are faced with today is the decision to create and maintain their systems in-house, or rely on a third-party company to host their applications and IT operations.  Making a decision on either model is based on various factors.  Experience and infrastructure are two great reasons to choose an outside vendor.  Professional hosting companies have access to data center facilities and infrastructures that the average business would have a difficult time replicating internally.  Traveling this route can give you the ability to do away with expensive upfront investments on servers and applications, while sparing your company the burden of maintaining complex systems.  You also have a better chance of getting a scalable infrastructure that allows for upgrades as your business grows and its demands increase.  In addition, choosing a third-party hosting provider as your partner enables your company to leverage both the good and bad times they have experienced.  This in turn, better assures that the host can effectively handle trouble problems when they arise.

If you do choose to partner with an outside firm, it is important to go carefully go over the fine print and pay close attention to what is being guaranteed.  You need to make sure the obligations and commitment to reliability are clearly outlined in the contract so that everything is understood by all parties.  If you can, take a physical tour throughout the provider’s facility to ensure that the best practices are being followed and your e-commerce systems are taken care of.  Should your internal IT staff be strong enough to maintain the entire project internally, be sure to devise a sound strategy that will keep your systems online despite the hardships or disasters that might come your way.

Beware of Cheap Web Hosting Practices

At first glance, cheap hosting is an ideal solution for individuals and small businesses looking to create a web presence.  After all, why pay top-dollar when so many hosts are offering the same service for next to nothing?  Yes, cheap hosting appears to be the route for obvious reasons but is it really a reliable solution?  You may find this service questionable after reading about some of the most common cheap hosting practices.

The Ambitious Newcomer

It takes a lot to run a web hosting company.  Providers require servers, bandwidth and a plethora of IT experts to help maintain the infrastructure.  Those who lack the resources and expertise to run the infrastructure outsource their hosting operations to third-party professionals, thus enabling them to elude the hassle and enormous costs.  Aside from financial resources, the cost savings obtained from outsourcing is what allows many companies to offer web hosting packages at competitive prices.

Along comes a new company looking to dabble in the web hosting industry.  Noticing all the low prices on the market, they come up with the bright idea of offering their service at a fraction of the price.  What better way to increase profits and overall growth of the company?  Things usually start out well for the new ambitious web host.  With everyone searching for affordable hosting, customers flock to the cheap service provider.  The veteran hosts even notice some of their clients fleeing for the cheaper service as well.  In the spirit of competition, they also lower their prices in order to keep pace in the market.  Here’s the catch – more than likely, the prominent web hosts have the flexibility and resources that allow them to trim costs without suffering any major financial losses.  The brilliant newcomer?  Well, they usually find themselves in a world of trouble.

Cutting Back Equals More Losses

Despite all the customers, the incredibly low price leads the newcomer to cut corners and make sure the company remains profitable.  They start by relieving some of their IT staff and technical support personnel.  When that isn’t enough, they began to trim away more essential aspects of their infrastructure.  They cut back on the maintenance and security procedures that are vital to any web hosting company.  Next, they overload their servers with customers.  From there, its reducing the number of servers entirely.  The cheap web hosting provider is still in business but in bad shape.  Limited personnel and IT engineers has resulted in horrible customer service.  The lack of preventative measures leads to more hardware failures and excessive downtime.  Overloading and minimizing servers results in poor performance and you’ve guessed it, more downtime.  Now that cheap but reliable web hosting package isn’t nearly what it is was advertised to be.

There is Hope

The cheap practices of an overzealous web hosting company hurts you the most.  Fortunately, not all cheap services are cheaply run as there are several reliable hosts on the market.  There is nothing wrong with trying to save a few dollars with an affordable web hosting service .  Just don’t go too low because you might get less than you paid for.